MIXED LIGHTING

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If you are asked to do a commercial assignment inside a building, such as this image of a hospital lab, always look around to see what kind of lights are being used.

The most common lights are normal household incandescent and fluorescent. When shooting interiors, especially when people are present, it is very important to have only one type of lighting turned on. Sometimes this may be impossible, but the results will be far better with a single color temperature light source.

Say for example you had flourescent tube lights and standard house light bulbs turned on in the same room. When you take the photo, the room would be a mix of greenish light (from the fluorescent bulbs) and orange/yellow light (from the household bulbs). This light mixture is very unflattering, especially for skin tones.

The solution is to have only one light source. The best option is to have studio strobe lights to illuminate the interior. However, if you don't have the cash to purchase studio lights, use just one type of lighting in the room. Your camera has a white balance that you should set to either tungsten light bulb (household lights) or fluorescent tube lights, often found in businesses. I took this image inside the hospital using studio strobes, which are balanced for daylight, or approximately 5600 degrees on the Kelvin temperature scale.

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